The initial publication of "The Old Boys" in 1992 raised so much dust that it has taken a decade for the air to clear. Subtitled "The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA," the work laid out the involvement of the lawyers who founded civilian intelligence in the United States -- 'Wild Bill' Donovan, Allen and Foster Dulles, Frank Wisner -- with several generations of reactionary, even Nazi-lining clients. Abetted by counterparts from the diplomatic side of the sheets, from Bill Bullitt to George Kennan and the notorious Carmel Offie, the founders incorporated both practices and personalities long associated with the Third Reich into their anticommunist crusade, and by so doing undermined almost everything they attempted. Patriotic and well-intentioned men, they played into the hands of forces that threatened us. "...skillfully captures what is probably the most important conclusion to draw about Donovan, Dulles, and Wisner..." -- New York Times Book Review, 1992 "...thoughtful portrait of the CIA as an often amateurish, usually misguided bureaucracy...most revealing." -- Baltimore City Paper, 1992 "Burton Hersh has brought to life the dark and secret world of American intelligence in its formative years." -- Daniel Schorr, NPR political analyst "...skillfully captures what is probably the most important conclusion to draw about Donovan, Dulles, and Wisner..." -- New York Times Book Review, 1992 "...thoughtful portrait of the CIA as an often amateurish, usually misguided bureaucracy...most revealing." -- Baltimore City Paper, 1992 "Burton Hersh has brought to life the dark and secret world of American intelligence in its formative years." -- Daniel Schorr, NPR political analyst Since graduating from Harvard College with high honors, Burton Hersh has adroitly sidestepped regular employment and persevered throughout a long and frequently tumultuous career as an independent writer. Following a six-year stint as a Fulbright Scholar and military translator in Germany, he returned to New York in the sixties to more than a decade as a successful magazine article writer. These easy-going editorial years -- in a better literary America -- were punctuated by the 1968 publication of Hersh's first novel, "The Ski People" (McGraw Hill). Hersh's persistent interest in contemporary American history led to the 1973 appearance of "The Education of Edward Kennedy" (Morrow), which quickly established itself as the standard work on the embattled liberal senator. "The Shadow President" (Steerforth Press) appeared in 1997, a universally acclaimed follow-up volume about Kennedy's later career. Also offered by Morrow, "The Mellon Family," came out in 1978, was a Book-of-the-Month-Club selection and, like "The Education," wound up among the top fifty books in sales in the year it came out.